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SALT LAKE CITY - For the second-straight season, Utah's Louie Sakoda has been named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award, which identifies the nation's top Football Bowl Subdivision kicker. He is one of 20 semifinalists for the award.
Sakoda is one of five two-time Groza semifinalists in the 2008 field, joining UTEP's Jose Martinez, West Virginia's Pat McAfee, Syracuse's Patrick Shadle and Missouri's Jeff Wolfert.
Sakoda has already been named as the Midseason All-America placekicker by CBSSports.com, The Sporting News and Rivals.com. He ranks among the national leaders in field goal percentage (15-of-17, 88.2%) with his only two misses coming from 48 and 54 yards. He is tied for third in the country in kick scoring points (80) and ranks 12th at any position in points per game (10.0).
The Utah senior is tied for third in the country in field goals (15) and field goals made beyond 40 yards (6). He is also tied for second in the country in field goals made beyond 50 yards (2). Sakoda is 12-of-12 from 47 yards and in, including the game-winning field goal as time expired against Oregon State.
Earlier this week Sakoda was also named as a top-10 semifinalist for the 2008 Ray Guy Award, which recognizes the top punter in the nation.
An outstanding student, Sakoda is a Draddy Trophy finalist and a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete (which came with an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship). He is also a top-10 finalist for the Lowe's Senior Class Award, was a Lou Groza `Star of the Week' on Sept. 1 for his performance against Michigan, and has been named the Mountain West Conference Special Teams Player of the Week three times this season.
The Groza list will be narrowed down to three finalists who will be invited to the Lou Groza Awards ceremony December 7-9 in West Palm Beach, Fla. The winner will be announced live on the nationally-televised Home Deport ESPNU College Football Awards Program on the evening of December 11, 2008.
2008 Lou Groza Semifinalists
- Josh Arauco, Arkansas State
- Jason Bondzio, Arizona
- Matt Bosher, Miami
- Ross Evans, TCU
- Graham Gano, Florida State
- Sam Glusman, Troy
- Ryan Harrison, Air Force
- Matt Harmon, NavyKevin Kelly, Penn State
- Dustin Keys, Virginia Tech
- Jose Martinez, UTEP
- Pat McAfee, West Virginia
- Jonathan Phillips, Florida
- Jake Rogers, Cincinnati
- Louis Sakoda, Utah
- Patrick Shadle, Syracuse
- Joshua Shene, Mississippi
- Leigh Tiffin, Alabama
- Phillip Welch, Wisconsin
- Jeff Wolfert, Missouri
